


liken me to your worst tragedy

by khattikeri



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fights, M/M, Metaphors, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Pining, spoilers through 2/2, two rivals chillin in a coffee shop 2 inches apart bc theyre gay and sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27375115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khattikeri/pseuds/khattikeri
Summary: Akira stares at him, eyes blazing, heart clenching, rage building up--Akechi turns his head and looks away in silence.--and for once, Akira lets his overflowing fury spill out.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 28
Kudos: 138





	liken me to your worst tragedy

**Author's Note:**

> i actually have more lighthearted things in the works for them i promise but this is SO... hhghgnghghg i had to get this out because persona 2 is making me emo. so i guess this counts as a vent fic of sorts????? really don't know. my emotions are a mess fkldsjflksd
> 
> anyway: blatant persona 2 and persona 3 spoilers in here, **do NOT read if you haven't yet played those games and intend to play them spoiler-free.** if you don't care for p2/p3 spoilers then go ahead. this also spoils p5r through february so. yeah

Akechi insists his life is trivial, and Akira won't have it.

It only escalates because of that.

"Here's a fairy tale for you," Akechi turns to him, vitriol dripping from his voice, _dib-dib-dib,_ in little imaginary droplets on the table. "A boy reunites with another boy he hasn't seen in ages. They love each other romantically, wholeheartedly, and they both know it full well." Akechi sneers. "And then one day, because of a certain tragedy beset upon them by a certain rotten god, they are told to lose all of their memories in order to save the world.

Akira's throat goes dry.

Akechi continues. "It's not just the two boys, of course. They have friends and comrades with them." He narrows his eyes, curling his fingers into a fist. "But there wasn't unanimity in their final decision." He waved a hand in indifferent faux grandeur. "The boy didn't want to forget his bonds with his friends and his beloved. Nevermind that everyone else already _agreed_ to lose their memories; the first boy was afraid of being alone, and didn't want to lose the connections he had. He was then forced into eternal punishment, being the sole person in the group who remembered anything they'd experienced, and eventually being cursed to stay in his own reality, away from his friends and lover in the new one."

"Why are you telling me this?" Akira whispers.

"I'm telling you not to make the same innocent sin the boy in this fairy tale made," Akechi hisses back. "Don't you dare make the wrong choice, don't you _dare_ choose to indulge in a world that you think will keep everyone or simply yourself happy just because of your sentimentality."

Akira lowers his gaze. "He chose to remember."

Akechi shakes his head and corrects him: "He refused to forget."

There's a palpable silence, and then Akira's brows furrow.

"Let me tell you another fairy tale then," he grits out. It's bullshit, he thinks sometimes, how Akechi never thinks of present circumstances. The most ridiculous foible. His greatest folly as a detective and as a person. It's only ever metaphor and roundabout philosophy with him; meaningless meandering around the fact that the situation they're in is unique to them, unable to be judged by fables past. He can't apply the same precedent to what they're going through.

But if Akechi refuses to do otherwise--

\--then Akira will overturn the entire game board, rivalry be damned.

"Humor me," Akira stands up. "Listen to this story. A boy is orphaned at a young age. His mother tells him to live on, but he can't hear her. He spends his life apathetic and empty and secretly miserable, cloaked in death and afraid of even making meaningful connections because he is effectively cursed to lose them, or so he fears."

Akechi's fist clenches tighter. Akira's head feels like a lead anvil on his neck.

"He makes these bonds, he learns to live and love and appreciate what he has," Akira continues, "and then he sacrifices himself for humanity's sake. He dies defending the world and the universe from a so-called ideal world where people are free from making choices and facing consequences. He remembers, and they remember. They don't forget."

"Opposing sentiments from opposing stories," Akechi scowls, impatience bleeding through the way he taps his finger against his own crossed arm. "But this isn't about _death._ It is about making the right choice."

"Is it really a choice when you have a knife to your throat?" Akira stares at him, eyes blazing, heart clenching, rage building up--

Akechi turns his head and looks away in silence.

\--and for once, Akira lets his overflowing fury spill out.

"Don't give me that bullshit!" Akira yells at him, grabbing Akechi by his jacket collar and gripping so hard his skin turns white. "Fuck off with that justice, like you're getting what you deserved without even a single spare glance at the fact that you were effectively forced with no other option!"

"You care too much," Akechi snarls back, not quite mocking, but certainly not a compliment. "Just like that fairy-tale boy, pining after his prince who will never be able to live and remember him back!"

"You care too little," Akira chokes on his breath. "You suffer and suffer in silence just like the protagonist of my fairy tale, and right when you've found something you might want to live for, you give it all up without another thought to the people you'll leave behind!" he screams.

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong, Akira!" Spittle flies from Akechi's mouth as he cackles in harsh amusement, and now they're more or less fistfighting, struggling against each other. "The boy from your story was selfless in life and in death. My own desire to crush Maruki's reality is the pinnacle of selfishness! I refuse to be controlled by anyone else, even if it means leaving myself dead and making you miserable for the rest of your life remembering how happy we could've been if we chose to ignore everything!"

"So you admit it?" Akira's breath is ragged, but his pulse is flying; from his hand on Akechi's throat, pinning the older boy down onto the booth seat, Akira can feel that Akechi's pulse is racing all the same. "You admit that we're like lovers?"

(Akechi is so beautiful when he breathes. The way his Adam's apple bobs, fluttering under Akira's touch, as if surprised that Akira isn't pressing any harder and getting his own sick version of revenge--)

Akechi gently pushes him off, straightening his jacket with a huff.

"You shouldn't set yourself up for heartbreak," Akechi's eyes are a little more distant; he closes them, taking in a deep breath. "You-- You shouldn't be so weak to assume that our bond won't last if I'm not physically there to remember it, whether it's one of rivals or lovers."

What Akira wants rarely matters. He's known this for many years. His desires tend to mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. Maruki's reality isn't one that Akira wants either. He knows Maruki is wrong, knows it in his head, and yet...

"This isn't a request to suppress yourself," Akechi murmurs. "But please--" his voice cracks, and he closes his eyes again, like some long-suffering old man instead of the eighteen-year-old he actually is-- "Please. Akira. Don't be afraid to move on."

Silence.

And then Akira nods like a glum, scolded child. He despises the feeling. Akechi nods back in wordless assent, and then turns to leave.

"I was serious," Akira croaks, because he has to have the last word now. "Your life isn't trivial. You mean a lot to me, Goro."

Akechi pauses by the door, eyes wide for a split second before his surprise is replaced with a ghost of a smile. "And you to me, Akira," he replies fondly. Before Akira can even process it, Akechi's voice and face take on a more neutral tone, all business. "See you tomorrow."

And then Leblanc's bell jingles, and Akechi is gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> [tumblr](http://khattikeri.tumblr.com/)  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/khattikeri)


End file.
